他为什么拿不到奔丧机票？

Why was he unable to get bereavement air ticket?

旅行社是否应将航空公司提供的奔丧折扣全部返给其客户？南茜报道了《大中报》读者的看法，即趁客户的不幸而获取利润是不道德的商业行为。

Should travel agencies pass the entire bereavement discount from the airline to its customers? As Nancy Jin reports, the Chinese News reader believes that making profits on customer vulnerabilities is an unethical business practice.



谢先生的加航电子机票

远在中国的父亲突然去世的消息会令身在海外的儿子悲伤不已，但忧伤之余，他们会匆忙购买机票回国奔丧。出于体恤之情，一些航空公司向临时接到通知而远赴重洋奔丧的乘客提供较为低价的奔丧机票。

The passing of a parent in China could cause emotional distress to a grieving son, leaving him scrambing to find a last-minute flight to attend memorial services back in China. Empathetic to the mourning passengers, some airlines offer bereavement fair to those traveling on a short notice for a death in the family.

奔丧票价（Bereavement Fairs）通常会比全价票有所折扣，不过并非所有航空公司都提供奔丧票价。在丧亲之痛之余还要满处询价无疑对奔丧之子来说是以额外负担，因此如果旅行社能帮助他们获得航空公司提供的奔丧票价，他们定会感激不尽。

Bereavement fairs are usually offered with a discount off the full fair, and are not provided by all airlines. But searching for the best travel options can be an extra burden to those in deep emotional pain, and they would be grateful if a travel agency can help them look around and find the bereavement fair from the airline.

大多数旅行社会很乐意在这样的情形下不以盈利为目的而为奔丧乘客寻找奔丧机票，但也不乏例外。

Most travel agencies would be happy to provide such assistances without making a profit, but with the exception of few.

在得知父亲去世的消息之后，谢先生在2013年12月上旬联系了多伦多的某一旅行社。深感失去父亲之痛的谢先生告诉旅行社他是由于父亲的突然去世而要立即飞回中国。

Mr. Xie contacted a travel agency in Toronto in early Dec. 2013, when the news of his father’s death broke. Deeply saddened by the loss of his father, Xie told the travel agency that he had to fly back immediately to China due to his father’s passing.

从未有过此类经历的谢并不知道航空公司还提供奔丧票价。他快速的搜索了互联网，发现圣诞节期间回国的票价都非常高，大部分票价都在$2600 - $2900元之间。

First-time experiencing a death of a family member in China, Xie wasn’t aware that bereavement fair was provided from airlines. He quickly searched the internet, and found that the air fares were extremely high at the Christmas season – most of them were around $2600-$2900.

所以当他被旅行社告知可以拿到$ 2450的票价的时候，他以为这就是最低价，并同意接受了这一价格。

So when he was told by the travel agency that he could get a fair price at $2450, he believed it was the lowest, and agreed to take it.

但直到谢今年初返回加拿大后，他才了解到加拿大航空公司（Air Canada）为乘客提供奔丧票价。他的一个朋友在九月份其父亲突然离世后，通过旅行社（Flight Network）从加拿大航空公司购到奔丧机票。

It wasn’t until after Xie returned to Canada early this year did he become aware that Air Canada offered the bereavement fair to passengers. One of his friends bought bereavement ticket from Air Canada after his father died -- through the assistance from a travel agency --.Flight Network.

据谢的朋友描述，该旅行社Flight Network为他购得加拿大航空公司提供的$ 1721的奔丧票价，尽管当时市场价格比此票价高出许多。也就是说，该旅行社将全部奔丧折扣反给了他，并未从中获得任何利润。

According to the friend of Xie, the agency, Flight Network, secured an Air Canada’s bereavement fair for him at the price of $1721, despite the much higher market price at the time of his travel. In another words, the travel agency had passed the whole bereavement discount to him, without making any profits.

谢立即通过电子邮件联系加拿大航空公司，要求获得奔丧票价的折扣退款。

Xie immediately contacted Air Canada through an email requesting for a refund of the bereavement discount.

几天后，加拿大航空公司的退款办公室回应他说，公司已经在售票时向他提供了奔丧票价。

A few days later, Air Canada’s refund office responded to him that it had already offered him a bereavement fair at the time of ticketing:

“请接受我们对你的不幸表示哀悼......我们对你的要求进行了调查，结果显示…你的此趟旅程的票价与抚恤性票价一致。因此，无法提供退款。”

 “Please accept our condolences on your recent loss… Our review of your file has confirmed that… you received a fare which is equal to the compassionate fare for the routing which was traveled. As a result, there is no refund value.”

邮件的附件显示的售票收据是$ 1721。

Attached to the email was a copy of the ticket receipt showing the price of $1721.

谢感到震惊，这可不是旅行社向他提供的价格，他所购机票价格要比此高出许多。很显然，加拿大航空公司从旅行社了解到他父亲的死亡信息之后为他提供了折扣，但旅行社偷偷拿到这一价格之后，并没有把全部折扣反给他。

Xie was shocked – it wasn’t the price that his agency had offered to him and he paid a fair with much higher price. Apparently, Air Canada offered this deeply discounted price to him after they had learned about his father’s death from the travel agency, but the agent did not pass on the entire discount to him.

谢指控说：“他们（旅行社）没有把我能拿到奔丧票价的信息告诉我….当得知我是因为我父亲去世而购票回国后，他们询问了我父亲的名字…. 我当时还没有搞清目的为何。很明显他们是利用我父亲的去世而获取奔丧票价的利润。”

“They (the travel agency) didn’t tell me that I was eligible for the bereavement fair at all… After learning that I was buying the ticket due to my father’s death, they asked the name of my father… I was wondering why at the time. “It was apparent that they want to use that information to get the bereavement discount for their own benefits, ” alleged Xie.

“他们在未征得我的确认和同意的情况下如此而为之。”

“And they did it, without my acknowledgement and consent.”

谢多方联系要求退款，但却四处碰壁，该旅行社拒绝提供任何折扣。

Xie’s efforts to seek refund seemed to hit the stone wall – the agency refused to offer any refund.

谢又向处理消费者对安省旅行社的投诉的安省旅游委员会TICO (The Travel Industry Council of Ontario) 提出投诉。在TICO调查中，谢的代理人承认在得知谢是因死亡奔丧后，替他申请了奔丧票价，但同时强调谢欣然接受了旅行社当时提供的比市场价低 $488元的票价。

Xie also filed a complaint with TICO, the industry regulator that accepts consumers’ complaint against travel agencies in Ontario. During TICO’s investigation, the agency told TICO that it did apply for bereavement discount for Xie, after learning his father’s death. But it maintained that Xie had happily accepted the price they offered to him, which was $488 cheaper than the market price.

在发送给谢一封电子邮件中，旅行社经理写道：“你购票的那天，你接受了那个价格，但是我们用何种方式为你拿到这个价格则与你无关。因此在这种情况下，我们没必要提供任何退款。”

In an email sent to Xie, the manger of the agency wrote in English:“The day you got the ticket, you accepted the price, but for what type of fare we were using you don't have to know. So in this case, we don't have to do any refund.”

谢向TICO的申诉并没有任何结果：旅行社拒绝提供任何退款。

The complaint with TICO didn’t change the outcome: The travel agency refused to offer any refund.


该旅游管理机构表示，谢的投诉较为复杂，难以解决，并认为“他们很难了解在谢的订票过程中究竟发生了什么。”
The regulator says that Xie’s complaint was complicated and difficult to resolve, and found “it is difficult to determine what exactly transpired during the ticket booking process.”

“我们只能说...有可能你和旅行社之间造成了误解和沟通问题...由于TICO从各方了解的信息相互矛盾，我们很难对此争端提供解决方案…”

“We can only state that… there may have been a misunderstanding and miscommunication between you and the travel agency … When such conflicting information obtained by TICO from the parties involved, it is difficult for us to address the issue…”

但谢可以肯定的是如果他从加拿大航空公司直接购票，或通过具有一定商业道德规范的旅行社购票，他此次奔丧之旅机票会为$1721元，而不是$2450元。

But what Xie is certain about is that had he bought the fair directly from Air Canada, or from agencies following the business moral standards, he would have paid $1721, instead of $2450 for the bereavement trip to China. 

“利用客户的不幸赚取利润不太规矩，或不符合商业道德规范，”谢说，“我希望这类商业行为将不会被社区接受，并遭到鄙视。”

“Taking advantage of customers’ vulnerability for profits is wrong, or unethical,” said Xie.”I hope that this type of business practice will not be accepted but despised in the community,” said Xie.